Poor People Don't Vote (Script & Sources)
Added 2021-03-14 16:14:18 +0000 UTCDuring elections millionaire celebrities will come on TV to say that things are messed up and you should vote, and if you DON’T vote then you’re part of the problem!
The reality is that the people who are most devastated and disenfranchised by politics, the poor, are also the least likely to be politically engaged, and the biggest myth is that this imbalance and the subsequent inequality that arises is because poor people are too lazy or disinterested to be politically engaged, and so it’s their own fault.
And of course that’s not true, because being politically engaged is a privilege. It takes time, energy, and money.
Poverty is designed to disconnect you from the decision-making process. When you work two jobs at minimum wage and spend an hour taking the bus home just to feed your kids and fall asleep, explain to me when you’re supposed to educate yourself on the issues, contribute to political campaigns, and for that matter when are you supposed to vote?
Voting happens in the middle of the day, in the middle of the week, and and only [CORRECTION: 30] states require a paid break to vote - there are voter ID laws, polling places in poor neighborhoods are understaffed and see longer lines that you’re not being paid to wait in. Most importantly, poor people can clearly see that the political machine doesn’t work for them.
And the people in power understand that the only way they can stay in power is by keeping the marginalized majority from having the resources to effect change, which is why the short answer is that the only way to fix politics is to enfranchise poor people FIRST by giving them a fucking break.
Raise the minimum wage, improve transportation, subsidized childcare, increase the poverty line, give the people at the bottom an opportunity to do something other than just survive. And then we’ll have a shot at a real democracy instead of a system that is owned, operated, and benefits a small handful of billionaire sociopaths.
